Bukit Panjang Transport Hub Cluster Increases To 8, With 4 Community Cases Linked On 30 Jul

Bukit Panjang Transport Hub Cluster Increases To 8, All Community Cases On 30 Jul Linked To It

A week ago, the Bukit Panjang Integrated Transport Hub (ITH) was announced as a Covid-19 cluster – one of the few new clusters in the last few months that isn’t a migrant worker dwelling.

The cluster started out when 4 bus drivers tested positive for Covid-19.

It has since gone bigger, with 4 more people confirmed to have been infected with the virus.

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All community cases on 30 Jul linked to transport hub

In an update on Friday (30 Jul), the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced that there were 4 community cases among the 278 cases that day.

All 4 of them were linked to the Bukit Panjang ITH.

Added to the 4 announced on 24 Jul, that makes it 8 cases in total linked to the hub.

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4 new cases were asymptomatic

Among the 4 new cases, only one was Singaporean, and the rest were Malaysians. The Malaysians are all work-permit holders.

They were all asymptomatic, but were tested as they were working in the cluster.

They had also all been quarantined earlier — that means they were close workplace contacts of previous cases.

Serological tests were also conducted on them and came back positive. This means the infections were likely to be in the past.

Here’s a summary of the 4 new cases:

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Several places in Bukit Panjang visited by Covid-19 cases

In Friday’s update, MOH also added several new places in Bukit Panjang that were visited by Covid-19 cases when they were infectious.

While MOH didn’t elaborate, they may be linked to the 8 cases in the Bukit Panjang ITH cluster.

The places visited are:

1. Bukit Panjang ITH on 25 Jul (1.35-2.30pm) and 27 Jul (1.35-2.35pm)
   – Mr Teh Tarik
2. Hillion Mall on 18 Jul (1.50-5.05pm)
   – My Briyani House
   – McDonald’s
3. Hillion Mall on 22 Jul (11.45am-12.20pm)
   – Watsons
4. Hillion Mall on 22 Jul (2.30-3.40pm)
   – McDonald’s
   – FairPrice supermarket

Hillion mall is in the same building as the Bukit Panjang ITH. It’s also connected to the Bukit Panjang LRT and Downtown Line MRT stations.

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4 bus drivers drove services 976, 184 & 176

Of the 4 previous bus driver cases, 3 of them had been infected at home, while the 4th, a work-permit holder, only tested positive on 25 Jul.

The 4th driver had apparently shown symptoms on 1 Jul, but showed up to work anyway at Ulu Pandan Bus Depot and Bukit Panjang ITH.

The 4 drivers drove bus services 976, 184 and 176.

SMRT has thoroughly disinfected the buses and common areas like the canteen and staff lounge at the transport hub.

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Low risk of transmission from bus drivers

While it hasn’t been revealed whether the 4 new cases are bus drivers, SMRT has previously assured passengers that the risk of transmission is low.

If you’ve visited Bukit Panjang ITH recently, though, do monitor your health.

We wish those injected a quick recovery, and hope no one else gets infected from this cluster.

Featured image adapted from Facebook.